The ship was clean and well cared for. Staff very nice, I even tipped extra. The food however was horrible. Very few dinning choices and most had an extra cost to eat such as hamburger or even a pizza. I get that if you want something that cost more like lobster but a hamburger really? Speaking of the lobster one of our group members tried it. He said it looked green and slimy and thought that was just how it was prepared. It was hard to tell because of how bad the food was everywhere else. He ended up with food poisoning as well as my wife whom had eating some eggs. The serving times where so short that you had nowhere to sit and eat. The staff even stopped the serving lines 15 to 20 minutes early so many time we went with out eating. No big loss their. They allowed smoking on most of the ship including dinning areas so you couldn't get fresh air. We even had my own balcony but we couldn't even use that because our neighbors smoked on the balcony next to us. We totally waisted our money. They also have several hidden charges that we discovered later. Geev Galvez and his helper Charle Ramirez. They worked in the main dinnig room for the special dinner. The service was spot on. Drinks before we even had to ask for them and offered different food choices as they notced people not eating the food. Not their falt on the food qulity but they did their best. Other service in restraunts was good to vary poor. We ate one night at the pizza / hambeger place and after asking 6 times to get someting to drink we all took turns to go to the buffet to get drinks and come back. We never did get any drinks that we didn't go get our selfs. Read Less

Crosieres as sales agent failed to give us important details such as the programs on the cruise till the last moment. The standard answer was ýou will get it with the ticket' which arrived 72 hours before the trip commenced. By that time all important excursions were already booked by other guests. This means other guests knew how to book excursions but Croiseres as agent never told us despite my repeated asking about it !! We chose and paid for two window view cabins. To our horror we were given cabins 4297 and 4323, both of which had large motors installed outside the windows. Thus the views of these windows were completely blocked !! I have attached the photo for readers quick reference. After boarding the cruise the hospitality desk the staff completely disowned there responsibility to change the cabins. We explained to them that our payment and booking of the cabins were confirmed for open views of the windows. Costa hospitality staff refused to give us alternate cabins. Eventually we had to go for higher category of balcony cabins 7232 and 7235 for which we had to pay extra 500 Euro for each cabin. This was a totally unacceptable behaviour of Costa Staff towards the guests. We felt we have been exploited and cheated by Costa and its agent Croisieres. On the final day of return we were diverted to Trieste port. We repeatedly told Mr Alex, who was coordinating the disembarkation process, to give us a coach connection to the Venice Airport as we had our onward flight to Vienna at 2,45pm on 8th June. He promised us that this has been arranged and he gave us Red B exit baggage tags to confirm the same. When we tried to board the coach for Venice, Costa's staff Mr Fabio, another Costa staff, forced us to take our luggages out of the coach. He showed us a passenger list which didn't include cabins 7232 and 7235 for transfer to Venice airport ! This gives us a feeling that either Alex mislead us throughout promising the coach transfer to Venice airport or Fabio behaved as a very rude staff completely disowning Costa's responsibility to take us to Venice. It must be mentioned that Costá Luminosa was delayed by 3hr and 30 mins while returning and it dropped the customers at Trieste, 150 km away form the contractual disembarkation port of Venice'. Eventually we had a take a taxi from Trieste to Venice airport to catch our flight. We had to spend 300€ for this emergency taxi trip simply because Cosat couldn’t return to Venice port by the scheduled time! On the whole it was a very bad cruise with Costa. ...'Never Cruise again with Costa' is our conclusion. Read Less

Our fifth Costa cruise and second time on Luminosa. This was probably the best so far. Impossible to fault at the price (7 days for £600 each incl lunch and dinner drinks package). Food was excellent, staff courteous, friendly and helpful without exception. Entertainment thoughout the ship was great, all musicians being excellent and great dance teachers. Shows were fantastic, especially the acrobatic act. Only exception being the ventriloquist. The ship was spotless throughout though we would have liked to have seen more use of the hand gel dispensers. Costa are a bit lax on enforcing the use and there are none on entering the restaurant. Most were not using them in the buffet so everybody was handling the tongs and then going straight to their food. Best way to spread germs. Fellow passengers seemed more polite and friendly than on some previous Costa cruises. All in all top marks though it does still irk to pay for water at the dining table. We had a drinks package thrown in so didn't affect us. It would be good too if some free food was available late evening but guess the price is low. Also noticed Costa have dropped the evening cabin service. Again not really an issue to us at this price level. We don't do excursions so can't comment but tenders etc seemed well organised. Read Less

We wanted to take my Mum who is 84 to see Venice, Rome, Croatia, Montenegro and Athens for her first time. We always choose Costa for value for money. The crew do a great job. Can't fault bar service, restaurant service or care/cleanliness of cabin. The buffet food was great but the physical layout is annoying. Restaurant food fantastic. The ship is badly laid out. The bars and even the specialist restaurants are all thoroughfares making it impossible to relax as people are constantly streaming through. There is a huge upper outdoor deck away from the pools and children but no convenient bar up there if you like a cocktail while you sunbath. We had booked Samsara cabin giving inclusive Spa access. It was a sanctuary we used every day but facilities are co-ed which is very off-putting. Theatre shows we're all amazing and cruise director Sabrina fabulous. Embarkation in Venice would have been a nightmare if we hadn't had priority because of Mum's reduced mobility. Poorly organised and little space. Disembarkation was also a nightmare. They don't explain it in advance that there may be a long time between docking and getting to your taxi. One final point about Costa..... Wait until you are on board to book your internet package. The best value social media package is not offered on the web site and they won't let you cancel your prebooked package once on board to change it. If you take one thing from this review remember Costa offer FANTASTIC VALUE FOR MONEY. Read Less

you think about a relaxed vacasion, fine entertainment, nice cabin, ship in good shape, interesting excursions, see new countries, meet nice people, have a good time? Nothing of all we found at a world-cruis with Costa Luminosa, starting 5. of Januar 19 till now (30.03.19). Explanation: the averig of the guest ist probably 75, that means we travelled with a lot of guests older than 90. Nothing against old people, but that is a special thing, severel in Wheel-chairs, probably 60% of them are sick, and we and almost all the other guests get also sick, for weeks, we called it finally the "Costa sickness", worst cough, fever, inflamed eyes, even people who never get sick otherwise, got sick, mostly for weeks The ship is old and in bad shape, old dirty carpeting, lamps, floors, dishes, we had a "Samsara cabin with balcony", Samsara means you get free entrance to the spa, be aware, maybe you get there some virus there (ist ugly dirty) You want to drink a free coffee at 06.15: bad luck, wait till 07:00 or make one yourself in the cabin (capsules), You want water to drink, you have to buy it, 12 bottle for US 36,-- (packet) You want Internet: you have to buy it, but you will be surpriced, often it is not working and the Connection is so terrible, that I could´dt never open my Banking account, I had to wait for land, Looking there vor a Restaurant and asked for Internet. Looking for a movie at night; you get one (1) per day, there is nothing more The tour plan itself: we got around 60 see-days (from together 112), that means we sit at the ship waiting for the next Landing, sometimes we had 5 see-days on a row, often we had to be at 05.00 p.m. back Ankering: we think Costa wants save Money, so the ship is ankering instead of pear, that causes you wait for the tender boat and the last tender boat is 04:00, There are other 10 Things to write, but ist not worth the time. Now why is my Rating one Point and not sero? The Food is good and the Service People try their best Read Less

It was the only eastern Meditteranean cruise available at Christmas time. My family and I had a wonderful time however the cruise itself was very average. Not excellent, not terrible. I appreciate the fact that they made it feel as "Chistmassy" as possible which was important since this was our first time ever travelling during the holiday. The food was good however not always available. For example, if you'd like to eat something after dinner, your only choice is room service or a pizza - each at an additional cost unless you buy upgraded package. The service was very good and there was definitely an appropriate number of employees. Kudos to the ship for getting that right. The excursions were overpriced...I found that paying a taxi driver would give you a better tour and more for your money. The ports were good. Croatia was the highlight although pulling into port of Montenegro was nothing short of spectacular. Upon return, were delayed due to immense fog thus creating traveling nightmares for many. I heard through the grapevine that there were options to get us into port however I cannot confirm this. I would recommend this cruise to someone with the same goal as ours however keep your expectations in check and you might be pleasantly surprised. Read Less

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We chose this cruise because of the indoor pool. Pool was closed for planned maintenance for the full week! Noone informed us it would be closed. Majority of the English speaking excursions were cancelled and there were very few things for English speakers on board. Again Noone informed us there would be a chance of the excursions being cancelled. Be warned you have to pay for EVERYTHING on this ship. Food is only served at specific timings. You have to pay for water. Also, staff is not so friendly. The overall attitude of the staff is down like they do not want to be there. We were reprimanded for using a different glass for our milk in the morning and we were also told we could not have a second entree. After arguing he only agreed. Maybe this is how all European cruises are but I do not think so. If you have a choice steer clear of Costa Cruises and opt for any other cruiseline. Read Less

This was a group trip that I decided to go on. There weren’t many staff members who spoke English well enough and getting answers to many questions was challenging. Many of the European guests were very rude, often pushy and cutting lines during meal times at the buffet, ignoring dress codes and walking in with wet swimsuits and towels or robes to the buffet. There was not much of a variety of meals. Most of the meals consisted of an enormous amount of bread and pastries. Perhaps that is the European way but, we Americans definitely were not accustomed to the food preparations. Several of my companions and I (27 in total) had been on numerous cruises before so this was highly unusual that there wasn’t a larger variety of international food. Also the buffet closed at 830pm nightly so if you were hungry after hours be prepared to pay. It was my birthday week so I was hoping for a great time. Our waiter George in the dining room was often rude, once complaining to us that he wasn’t feeling well and was working longer than he should have been (8 months) and should have been allowed to go home. Really??!! Several times our food was being served so slowly and at lukewarm temperatures might I add, that it was interfering with the next seating and we were asked to leave before the meal was completed. This put a damper on our trip as we had great expectations based on previous cruises. I’m not saying that other cruise lines are without fault but I felt a little put off by the lack of hospitality. I felt a little racial bias when it came to bar service. We were passed over while we arrived at the bar waiting our turn while someone not like me was helped immediately upon arriving at the bar. We had to tell them that we were waiting first.. I will say that we did meet several very nice and interesting people on the cruise. But there is so much more to complain about but why bother. Needless to say I won’t be traveling on Costa cruise line again. Read Less

Our very first cruise as passengers - and I was disappointed. I work in entertainment for living and have worked on board these vessels, so when we got home, I thought I'd share my opinion on the Entertainment on the Costa Luminosa. Please forgive me if my review contains technical stuff and jargon that only entertainers might understand. I can't just say it was terrible, because it wasn't, but some of it was pretty poor. I think maybe I just expected better. I might have expected too much, but I don't think so. Review of the Entertainment on the Costa Luminosa. My wife and I have just had our very first cruise experience with Costa on board the Luminosa and we found the ship, the food and the staff wonderful. My career has been in entertainment, starting professionally in 1984, and at 60 – I’m now working as a Production Manager, or Company Manager or other similar roles. I’m currently preparing a show for XXXXX, which has already sold over 35,000 tickets, and I will be the Company Manager for this production. A number of my previous dancers have worked for Costa, so I was looking forward to the on-board entertainment. On arriving at the theatre I noticed a good technical installation – Digico sound desk and the stage revolve and lifts. Sadly, once the shows started to run, things were not so good. Small things at first – I’m aware that cruise ship shows are pre-produced and run from timecode, but some of the things I observed were a failing of the house crew in maintaining and tweaking. For example, pre-show, the lighting provides some slow moving gobos on the auditorium sides – all in one colour, bar one that was green. Nobody noticed, or they did, they didn't fix it. Similarly, quite a few states features fixtures with their beams in a row, apart from the odd one – presumably it had been removed for servicing or repair and replaced, but nobody checked the alignment. The actual lighting design was a bit odd – so many basic stock effects and bog standard gobos – that I can see everywhere – just not special. The one person technically who stood out was the guy mixing sound. He was clearly skilled, and dedicated. He removed his comms headset which shows he was only interested in sound balance, and he made constant adjustments, and did not lose his focus in any of the shows where I observed him. I think he did an excellent job with the material he was presented with. In the technical department the only crew issues from the production point was the video. The theatre has decent equipment but those Vinten heads are capable of very smooth and precise movement. The cameras have remote zoom and focus demands, but the head is set up badly, so moves were very jerky. Not really an operator fault, merely nobody skilled enough to set up the head controls and realise that pan bars should be more horizontal than vertical – because this exaggerates the jerks. Staging Power flying of the slower sort always looks a little iffy – but what became very annoying was the continual flying in and out of the various screens and gauzes, and some of the moving lights fixed to the vertical drops had very visible equipment in the almost dark state – this encourages viewers to try to see what it is. Whenever this kind of thing is done, the lighting needs adjusting to make the mechanics invisible. In one show there were two mirror balls, rigged at different heights – looked really tacky. One safety issue I noticed. Scanning the audience with lasers is a very controlled effect, and this wasn’t controlled at all. I held a finger up to my eyes so I could see the effect, but not the actual device for my own safety. Where I was sitting on deck 3, the beams clearly hit the people on deck 2 seating and occasionally went up above my level. The risk assessment for the lasers would be interesting to read. The usual rule would be to NOT scan the audience. Costa seem to think this is OK - in the UK, it would not be done. The performers, however, were a very weak link. Singers I appreciate that almost certainly the tracks they performed to are common to all ships, but their range did not match the tracks at all well. Both male singers were weak in their bottom range and had little power, so it wasn’t until they could sing higher that any power was available in their voice – unfortunately, many numbers started low – too low for these two. The taller of the two was quite weak, vocally - and had very poor stage presence looking awkward in some numbers. The shorter of the two had a nicer voice in his higher range, but was still weak. The two girl singers were simply average – pleasant enough, but in numbers where they were clearly supposed to be singing in a certain style – Diana Ross, Whitney Houston etc. they were unable to be convincing. One had quite painful pitching in places. In general, the four singers were typical of the UK Haven holiday centre standard – I’m very familiar with Haven, Warners and a few others, including the excellent Potters holiday centre – which is equipped in a very similar way to the Costa ships. None of the singers met the Potter’s standard, which was not what I expected. Dancers Clearly the dancers at audition were probably competent, however I can only assume there is no dance captain, or that there is, and this person is ineffective. Many routines, and I saw all the entertainment available, were sloppy. In some, difficult to guess if sequences should have been in unison or canon! Things like split leaps for example. Simply all over the place. No symmetry and messy. One of the dancers – who looked a little older and had lighter hair and featured in some duet numbers looked like he knew exactly what to do, but was doing it at his version of the correct time, while the others did it reasonably together in theirs. He partnered frequently with a guy with short dreadlocks, and the two never seemed to gel. The other two male dancers were forgettable. Not bad, but they didn’t shine. The five girls were competent but uncoordinated – all the small things – too much hip turn or too little compared to the others – arms and legs at different angles and very varying degrees of effort and energy, A few numbers looked like they were marking, not performing. The girls also had spacing issues, despite the usual tape numbers on the hidden stage edge – I checked. They had trouble retaining shape when going upstage, especially when the lifts were up, and they had to go up and back, and the shape got lost. Small things made it messy – in one routine when they all saluted, they all did it differently. Different arm angles and worst of all, their palms – vertical and facing front, or horizontal facing down – and those facing down had some rakish angles? These small attention to detail features should have been spotted and rectified by the dance captain, but clearly this was a feature not implemented, which comes down to not just the dancers but the person in charge. If this person was me, I’d have had them in for extra calls to tighten things up, fix the spacing, remove some strange physical weirdnesses (the dancer who always turned their lip up, for example). Exits were also a bit odd – some doing some very contrived movements, others not. Some looked bored, some looked keen and excited. The Acrobats They were competent, professional and entertaining – for about ten minutes. An entire show was just too much, it got repetitive and dull. Cannot fault their performances but better as an insert to another show, it did not warrant a show of it’s own. The Voice I had low expectations and wasn’t disappointed. It made me feel embarrassed to be there. The standard of the performers was bound to vary considerably, but it was the management of it that was awkward. As a concept it had merit, but I sensed the audience were not like the Voice or X-Factor audiences out to laugh at them, and they too felt embarrassed with the weak ones, and over enthusiastic with the better ones. Picking the winner was simple. The Crew Show I expected, based on the professional performers, that this show would be terrible. In fact, it was excellent. Showing up the professional dancers in terms of energy, and one of the singers was better than the professionals – this should NOT have happened. A crew member, singing for fun should not perform better than somebody who does this as a career. The dancers and singers did not appear to have any extra duties, so I wonder what they did with all their time off? Certainly it wasn’t spent rehearsing. Show Bands I’m familiar with the ship band concept from my own limited experience on ships – I’m in a tribute band who have played on P&O, and like the theatre team, many seemed bored to tears. The guy playing the piano in one bar used tracks, and got hopelessly lost in one of the songs, clearly he can play and sing, but just forgot where he was. In another venue there was a duo, and in the venue where guests were dancing, their showband were clearly talented but playing dire music – although I have to say that people were dancing to it. Tarentellas and Polkas I really did not expect on a cruise, but that’s almost certainly me not realising what the average guest wants. Ents Team They tried hard, but so much of what they had to do was old fashioned and boring, what could they do? Quizzes – who on earth designed these, they were awful. Showing images from countries around the world, and guests writing down the countries was so dull – then they went around them all again, to cope with a few new guests who strolled in. Gripping? More like watching paint dry. So long for so few questions. Same again with the only other quiz I witnessed – identifying beer brands from bottles around the world! Really? This kind of entertainment is cringeworthy if you are under 30, and awkward for me, just turned 60. I also started to watch a quiz where the three ents team members mimed actions to movie theme music. I left. It’s also probably a country specific thing, but I resented after a while, the constant demand to applause – applause. If I want to applaud a performer, I will. In this case I was asked to applaud performances that were poor, lacklustre or in some cases, embarrassing. Conclusions I saw a number of very average shows, and none that impressed me with the exception of the crew show. Standards wise, in the UK we have various levels of performance standard in shows. In quality terms, the West End shows are at the top, with very critical attention to detail, the touring production of these shows try to maintain this quality, but there are compromises due to the differences in venues. Out of the holiday centre market, I have not seen better than the shows at the Potters Resort in Norfolk. Good staging, competent singers, dancers and musicians. The Warner holiday centres come next in quality, with Haven and the individual small group sites firmly at the bottom because their entertainers tend to be generic rather than specialists in one area. I have to report that the Costa show falls to the bottom of the list. Not entirely the fault of the performers, but the management who clearly have noticed none of this. It did not spoil my holiday, as the off-ship experience was very good, and of course the food on board was wonderful, but as my job is entertainment, I was looking forward to excellent entertainment, and it was embarrassingly poor. We shared our dining table with two other couples and they said exactly the same thing, from their non-entertainment background. Sadly - that's my first and last Costa cruise - I shan't be doing any more whatever. Read Less

It was my 50th birthday this year & to celebrate we chose a Miami 3 night stay & Western Caribbean cruise with Celebrity through Cruise 365. There were 8 of us on the holiday (family) & we had a truly amazing time from start to finish. It was our first time cruising & everything from the Art Deco hotel in Miami to our time on the Celebrity Equinox was perfect. We had such a fantastic experience that when we returned my Wife & I decided to book another cruise & stay holiday for just the two of us later in the year. We compared several deals through Planet Cruise, Iglu & Cruise 365. We wanted a cruise deal that took in destinations that we hadn't previously visited & eventually found what we thought looked like a great deal with Iglu. It was a 12 night cruise & stay deal which included a 3 night stay in Lake Garda, 2 night stay in Venice & a 7 day cruise on the Costa Luminosa. We boarded the ship on the Saturday afternoon which took around 1.5 hours. The buffet food was pretty much the same every day & very much like school or canteen dinners. Some of the stations weren't open. We had set dining in the restaurant at 18.45 but this wasn't much better unfortunately. The food was very average & the choice seemingly aimed exclusively at the Italians. As a result we only ate in the restaurant once. You had to pay extra for things like pizza, burgers & steak. We had a drinks package but this didn't include water. Coffee was only available from the drinks machine in the mornings. The ship felt a bit scruffy & most of the staff seemed a bit miserable. The entertainment was ok on 2 or 3 nights but dire for the rest of the time. I think there were about 1900 people on the ship with no more than around a dozen English people. There were over 1600 Italians. This wasn't a problem for us other than we found them to be very loud, quite ignorant & lacking in manners. At mealtimes it became a bit of a free for all. We enjoyed most of the destinations but the timings weren't particularly great. The ship had a bad vibration for long periods of time making the experience uncomfortable. Overall, the cruise was a huge disappointment. None of what we experienced was special in any way & didn't compare to the amazing experience we had with Celebrity although the price we paid was very similar. Our verdict: Sorry Costa but if you want to provide a positive cruise experience then you need to see how Celebrity do it. If this had been our first cruise it would most certainly have been our last. Never again with Costa. Read Less

My mother and I traveled on Costa Luminosa from Venice to Greek Islands ( August 24 - September 1). This was our first cruise so we went with an open mind and not really knowing what to expect. We had a balcony room thank goodness I can't imagine a room without a balcony - so that was a positive. Waking up and having a coffee on the balcony was really nice. We are Canadian - English speaking and found language to be a barrier most of the time. Some cruise employees knew English but far and few between and when we needed assistance the limited English on board became an issue. Be prepared to hear a lot of Italian by fellow cruisers and employees - They do announce things in English but it is not very clear and can be easily missed. Overall, I found the Italians to be rude on board - pushy and always butting in line and smoking in your face. The food at the buffet was nothing special. I have stayed at all inclusive resorts for fraction of the cost with better food. Trying to find a seat at the buffet was impossible most days we had to sit with other people and the tables then became crammed.That being said the Taurus restaurant for dinner always had a good and unique selection. Rooms service was good - always cleaned on time and enough room to be comfortable. Drink package - this DOES NOT mean alcohol - the only thing that is included in the base fair is water from the tap..... I did not know this and my travel agent did not advise me of this. Juices, pops, coffee, tea , cappuccino is all extra - if this is something you want I would look into that drink package. A coffee in the morning in the room cost 1.55 Euros..... botttle of water 3.00 Euro. The Ports we traveled to were all unique and different - also know that you can get same excursions on land as what Costa offers for fraction of the cost.... once you get into port there are locals and agencies who have same tours - we never had an issue doing tours this way. Overall I wouldn't travel Costa again due to lack of food quality, language barrier and felt like because we weren't Italian we were looked down upon. Pack your patience if you travel Costa..... Read Less

This is my third cruise with Costa and I loved it. Now I am a Perla level Costa Club member. We choose this cruise because of the itinerary: Venice, Bari, Argostoli, Santorini, Mykonos and Katakolon/Olympia. We had mini suite 4303 with a corner balcony with a 270 degrees view (windy by the way). The embarkation in Venice was quick and efficient and the departure from Venice is just stunning. Our mini suite was spacious with a very nice bathroom and a shower with glass door and panel, not a curtain. Cabin steward Aileen was very nice. Now let me talk about the food, it was just splendid. Other cruise lines charge you to eat Italian in a speciality restaurant. In Costa, you have all the Italian food you want included in your cruise price and we also had the"brindiamo" drink package included. So we drank many Proseccos, beers and wine by the glass in addition to juices and coffees (Illy Italian brand which is wonderful). The lunch buffet was amazing with a lot of stuff to choose from. Dinners are a wonderful trip around all the regions of Italy (Campania, Liguria, Sicilia, Lazio, etc.). They were truly gourmet dinners. Read Less

Too many people.Too many italians. Too many childs. At the restaurant slow service and bad food and wine, Buffet with limited choice and poor quality. Difficult to find a seat at the buffet. Absolutely unsatisfactory breakfast. Cabins not cleaned well and ready only after 1 or 2 p.m. Rude staff at the reception desk. Poor entertainement and excursions too expensive. Slow and confusing boarding procedures. Difficult to find a seat during the shows. Approximate cleaning of common areas. Staff completely insufficient for the size of the ship. Long waits to talk to someone at the reception. No information provided to those who do not buy the excursions and who want to use public transport. You have to pay for everything. Bad experince overall. Definitively we have spent a lot of money to get a similar treatment to a scheduled ferry. Excluding Rome, the itinerary is not so interesting. Never again! Any usefull information to save money: MARSEILLE: use the free shuttle bus provided by the port Authority (500 yd from ship); BARCELONA: use the PUBLIC shuttle bus from cruise terminal; PALMA: use the PUBLIC BUS from cruise terminal to city center; CAGLIARI: the city center is just in front of you. Visit the city by yourself; ROMA: Be careful not to use unauthorized taxis. Best way is to go to ROMA SANPIETRO by train (www.trenitalia.com). Alternatively you may buy the only trasportation with a bus company at exit of the port. Read Less

I am returning from a Costa Cruise on Costa Luminosa. I spent ca. $10,000 for a suite, a cabin with a balcony and on board extras. This was my first time with Costa. Although I did enjoy my food experience in the special restaurant that is assigned in my category, I will NOT travel Costa in the future for the following reasons: - it is not until I wrote to Costa that I got an itemized onboard expenses summary. - it is impossible to sleep well on board as their ships don't seem to be sound proof. More specifically: cabin doors at poorly designed and people tend to party in the hallway. I did not have a noise problem on Celebrity or Royal Carribeans. - the spa was huge (a big plus) but it is not relaxing at all: my first treatment was poorly scheduled as I could not participate in the mandatory drill. - it is not easy to have the staff stick to the price that was discussed at the spa. Sorry Costa: I do like the italian vibes of the people onboard, but it was not relaxing at all considering all the money I spent. Read Less

This was our first cruise. We needed a cruise that fit in with pre-allocated holidays at work and also to discover somewhere new. The Western Mediterranean ports have mostly been visited on other, non cruising holidays, so we wanted the Eastern Mediterranean and chose a cruise from Venice on Costa Luminosa. Some of the points highlighted in this review may seem trivial to seasoned cruisers but we had 101 questions before our cruise so hopefully this review may help others who are/were in the same situation as ourselves. To anyone like ourselves I would say "don't worry. A lot of things become self explanatory once on board" There are lots of variables when booking a cruise and I did some hefty research on sites like Cruise Critic. Some of the items we booked were merely a "fluke" like getting a drinks package included. We booked around 7 months in advance on the Costa website and chose a Premium Balcony cabin. This allowed us to choose the cabin we wanted and we opted for cabin 7260 which was mid-ship on the left hand side and had cabins above and below us to minimize the noise from bars, disco's, engines, theatre and the sundeck. As mentioned this also included the Brindiamo drinks package - more later. Also, by choosing this type of cabin we could specify preferences about meal times and we chose the first sitting (18:45) and specified a table for two in the upstairs dining room. My wife is on a Gluten Free diet so, a few days after booking, I telephoned Costa in Genoa and told them about the special request. We were advised that they could only guarantee gluten free food if we ate in the main dining room. They advised us not to eat in the buffet for this reason. We paid our deposit and I made a note to myself and paid the balance about 8 weeks in advance. Whilst the initial booking could be done online we could only pay the balance by telephone. Approximately 3 weeks before travel we received an email from Costa with boarding forms and luggage labels which we had to print out ourselves. We traveled from the UK to Venice by train and stayed the night before the cruise in a hotel in Mestre which is a few miles from Venice on the mainland. Our documentation from Costa said that boarding began at 14:00 so we headed from Mestre to Venice late morning and had a bite to eat. From Santa Lucia railway station in Venice it's a steady 25 minute walk to the cruise terminal. There's also a people mover which costs 1.50 Euro's and would reduce this transit time to about 12 minutes. Once at the port (at about 14:05) we handed our suitcases over and were given embarkation number 15. We proceeded to a waiting room and discovered that they were processing group number 12. We sat and waited for a short time before they called number 15. There were long queues but we seemed to move quickly. After checking in we had the obligatory pose for the camer-man and headed to the ship. It took exactly 1 hour from arriving at the terminal to getting to our cabin. The cabin was excellent. Plenty of room. A decent sized en-suite. Balcony with two chairs and a small table. Mini-Bar and a comfy bed. There was a selection of fruit and biscuits for us and a sign saying that they were gluten free (as we had told them). It was my wife's birthday on the day of boarding and there was a birthday card from the captain waiting for her in the cabin. On the bed were our Costa Cards, and some other information. At this point we discovered that people were allowed on-board from 11:45. So we had been killing time all morning waiting when we could have been on the ship 2-3 hours earlier. We had read many articles suggest things to do during the first few hours onboard. To put it mildly, we were overwhelmed. I think initially someone had suggested the pool. We didn't get this far until day 3 ! Each day a "Diary de Bordo" is delivered to your cabin. This shows navigation, weather and entertainment information and also information about shore excursions (where to meet and at what time etc). However, something that we almost missed was the "Welcome meeting" which was done at 15:30 in the Grand Bar Ellectra for English speaking guests. We found this very useful and would strongly suggest that any novice cruisers like ourselves seek this out on the first afternoon. We were advised that "English Speaking Guests" totaled 440 on this cruise. English speaking guests are those who don't communicate in the main languages used (French / German and Italian but not Russian). So included in this number were Swedish, Norwegian and Brazilian nationalities as well as British, Amercan and Canadians etc. I believe there was also a Russian host on board but ship announcements were not made in Russian. Whilst I am not privy to exact numbers I would estimate that the cruise consisted of 40% Italian, 25% German, 25% French and 10% split between other nationalities. It was rare to hear any other guest speak English on board. Most of the ships activities are on decks 2, 3 and 9. It's a beautiful ship. Very clean and well maintained. It was interesting to watch the officers do their inspections and pick up on the tiniest area that wasn't clean enough and tell staff to clean it. The Costa Card :- in our cabin was a Costa Card. This was our "passport" to the ship for the next week. It opened the cabin door and was used to obtain services on board. It was shown (and scanned) when leaving on shore excursions and likewise when returning to the ship. As our cabin included certain drinks we had to show it whenever ordering a drink. Each bar has a drinks menu. Next to each drink is a colour code representing the various drinks packages. I believe a grey dot represented a drink included in our package. Should we have ordered a drink that was not included in the package we would have been given a receipt and this amount debited to our room. Drinks on board generally ranged from 3 to 6 Euros. We subsequently discovered that our drinks package would have cost us 27 Euro's per day - that's between 5 and 9 drinks per day to make it worthwhile. We probably had about 5. Drinks that are included in your package convey no surcharge. However, anything not included has a 15% surcharge levied. Free water is available (by the glass) in the buffet area and pool area at the rear of the ship. Bottled water costs 1.70 Euro's (plus service charge) for 0.5 litres. One thing worth noting is that we were told that for environmental reasons all drinks are by the glass. When ordering a Pepsi it was poured from a 330ml can into a glass holding 250ml. What happened to the last bit I have no idea but we never saw them "recycle" a drink by pouring a bit from one can and the rest from another. The main dining seemed to be quieter (and smaller) on deck 3 rather than deck 2. Our waiter said the later sitting was the busiest. We found the food the be excellent. Yes, there is an Italian theme but also plenty of choices that are not just pasta. Each evening my wife was given a special "Gluten Free" menu which generally contain choices not available on the standard menu. Our waiter was slightly dour on the first day and we recalled some bad reviews with trepidation. However, we joked with him, talked to him and, by the end of the cruise felt that he was one of our best friends. A truly warm, genuine person. The cabin steward was also a very kind, warm person. Always smiling and kept the cabin in immaculate condition. When we got to the cabin on the first afternoon we could choose the time that would suit us best for it to be cleaned. We opted for the afternoon/evening as we would normally be having dinner. We had a very slight problem with a light not working and the cabin steward immediately stopped everything he was doing to fix it (it transpires that a previous guest had unplugged it) The bar staff were also great. Often remembering who arrived for drinks in what order and dealing with 3 people at once. On our subsequent feedback questionnaire to Costa we rated the ships officers quite badly as they hardly spoke and were miserable. However, without exception, the "normal" staff were incredibly attentive and cheerful. If you engage with them you would be treat like royalty. I received a free drink at the bar one day because, he said, " I had made him smile". Also, I had a daily ritual with one of the chefs at breakfast. Early in the cruise she was singing "You are my sunshine" as it was a beautiful sunny day. As the week progressed I asked her about the song of the day. As she normally was cooking omelets we had songs like "How do you like you eggs in the morning" and "Smile" though we changed the words a little from "Smile though your heart is aching" to "Smile though your eggs are breaking". Even though my wife was on a Gluten free diet we did use the buffet area on more than one occasion. My wife has an intolerance to wheat but if we are sensible we can work out what foods are likely to contain this substance. By 8am the buffet was busy. As early risers we were there at 7-7.30 and it was almsot deserted. The buffet restaurant opened about 11.30 for lunch. Usually at this time (until about midday) it wasn't that busy. However by 12:30 people were hunting for tables. There are four main serving areas. However there may be small variation with what's available at each one. For example, one may have carrots whilst another one may have the carrots swapped for Broccoli. Unless you are really picky and desperate there is certainly no need to visit more than one serving station. We only visited the buffet once in the evening and this was at 8pm and found it to be quiet. There is some repetition of food and some dishes (potato wedges appeared every night) In the main dining room you have an allocated table for evening meal but you are shown to a seat at Breakfast and Lunch which could be anywhere and generally only on deck 2 (the upstairs restaurant is only open on an evening). We had breakfast in the main dining room once and was bitterly disappointed. There is a small buffet area and you can also order one of a themed breakfast - so they had an American breakast, an English breakfast a Norwegian brekfast etc. We found, on the English breakfast that the bacon was like charcoal and the egg very "snotty". However for lunch and evening meal the food was spectacular. The portions are not huge but the menu is based on having 4 or 5 courses. We really enjoyed our meals and found them to well presented and very tasty. Dress code was varied. Each night there was a theme. Red & Black night / White night / Mask night. I would estimate that only 10% of guests actually took heed of this. People were having meals in shorts and t-shirts - even on gala night. The theatre has two showings. (I believe) at 19:30 if you have a late meal and 21:30 if you have an early sitting for dinner. Each show lasts 35-40 minutes. The first night was a magician who was "ok". Other nights we thoroughly enjoyed each show. One reviewer said "slapstick". We would vehemently disagree. Each announcement was made in Italian, French, German and English. Some people have said this was tedious. However we are an English couple sailing from Italy to the Greek islands. How lucky were we that they even took the time to speak English ? In our opinion - very ! Every member of staff was fluent in all the aforementioned languages. Also, we found it nice to be part of the minority. If, as an English couple, we wanted to be surrounded by English speaking people and visit a destination where everyone spoke English then we could have gone to Skegness. It was an eye-opener in our last port as a cruise ship with predominantly English speaking guests was also in port. Suddenly everywhere in town were British people and it spoilt what I would describe as the "exclusivity". We found the majority of other passengers to be miserable and very bad mannered. The staff would pass you and say "hello, Good morning". You would have been lucky to get a scowl from other guests. At the bar I would say " a cappuccino please". Many, many times I heard other nationalities just say "expresso" or "pepsi". No manners ! Needless to say that their bad manners persisted on shore excursions and meal times. We booked all of our shore excursions through Costa as we were unsure what would happen with self booked tours. This was, to us the worst part of our cruise. Generally, with fewer English speaking guests we shared our coach with other nationalities. French one day, Italian the next etc - however all announcements were multi-lingual Bari - Sassi de Matera We were in port for 6 hours but this tour took 5.5 hours. We were rushed with hardly any time for toilet stops. An audio/visual presentation was made in a cave. The tour guide cut in half way through say "got to go". We were given 30 minutes of free time at the end and told to meet "back here at 17:30". At 17:25 the tour guide took us back the coach, as she was in such a hurry, leaving some guests behind and a couple of these must have been in their 80's. Of course we were then delayed whilst she went back to find them... Keffalonia - Caves/Lake/Beach The visit to the beach was to "look at it" from 1000ft up a maintain. The caves and lake were good but very long queues for the lake (1 hour queue) Santorini - Oia and Fira Excellent tour guide. Excursion spoilt by very long wait to use the cable car. Queuing for 1 hour to use it. Worried about making the last tender back to the boat Mykonos- walking tour of Mykonos Waste of money. Tour guide took us on a 1 hour walk around Mykonos. "here's a windmill", "this is a shop", "that's a church". We discovered more in our own time that with him. Katakolon - Olympia We got a coach from Katakolon to Olympia with entrance included but no tour guide. We were disappointed by the short time we had there and also the lack of signage in Olympia telling you what things were. At the end of the cruise we were disappointed to leave. Whilst we didn't participate in many of the activities available time went by quickly - even our last day- at sea. We are now looking forward to our next cruise - but would like to try another company for comparison. Considering all of the negative reviews on Cruise Critic about Costa we were very impressed and they exceeded our expectations. I use an old adage "behavior breeds behavior". Treat the staff with courtesy and respect and they will treat you like royalty. The poor shore excursions and bad mannered, rude fellow travellers has stopped me rating this as 5* Even though we would like to try another cruise line we would not hesitate to book with Costa again. Read Less

When arriving on the ship there was a lot of confusion and our rooms were not ready. Once getting into our rooms it took another 2 hours for my bag to arrive. There was many things that were not included on this cruise which is not stated on the website. The entertainment was really bad. I have been on 3 cruises before this one and could not believe how boring the entertainment was. For good entertainment and value for money I would go on the Royal Caribbean again. I have been on the Royal Caribbean 3 times now and I can never fault it. There was not much to do for the children and the entertainment during the day was very boring. The food was also bad. When ordering meals you were unsure of what each one was and it would come out looking like it was chucked on the plate. When waiting to get a drink it took forever to find someone to order. Most of the time we just gave up and didn't order any drinks. I went on the cruise with my sister and her family and having them for company was good. It is a good cruise if you just want to relax as there isn't much happening when you are on the boat. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the great port calls; Italy, athens, olympia, Kotor, and Split. The destinations did not disappoint. They were fantastic and we avoided much of the crowds by cruising in the winter. Unfortunately, we did not have a chance to explore Venice before our cruise departed as Easyjet canceled the flight. Needless to say, we had to scramble to find alternative transportation to Venice and it cost us an extra day of travel. The embarkation and disembarkation was extremely smooth at Venice. We had no issues getting on the ship four hours before the departure. Customs was smooth and friendly and this was the easiest embarkation we have experienced. The Luminosa allows you to embark or disembark at any of the port calls but I'm unsure how smooth the process was at the other locations. Like other reviewers, we found the Luminosa to be average. Compared to other cruises, the food was disappointing. Mainly pasta dishes and you pay extra for the dishes that are included on other cruises such as steak and lobster. Costa cruise lines charges extra for things like coffee, bottled water, ice cream, and even pizza. We found the layout of the cruise ship to be very similar to other cruise lines of this size. Spa on the 9th floor near the front of the ship, cafeteria style dining on the ninth floor, restaurant on the 2nd floor, casino, bars, etc. Our classic cabin with a balcony was nice; easily accommodating two adults and two children. The cabin was well insulated but we did hear some children running in the cabin above us. Thankfully, no issue with neighbors that smoke. The kids club seemed fine. My nine year old only went a few times but there didn't seem to be any language barriers. The teen club, however, was given over for infant space. As a result, the teens didn't really have a place to hang out and they would meet on various parts of the ship. It was a poor compromise and our teenage daughter, whom usually likes the teen club, chose not to participate on this cruise. It is apparent the crew is overworked. We were told they work 13 hour days for nine months without a day off. Our steward was responsible for around 20 cabins and it showed. Although hard working and friendly, you could tell the staff was stressed. Also, be prepared for lots of Italians and a lack of personal space and no regard for queues. Of course, this happens with other nationalities as well. Also, the announcements must have been in at least three languages which got tedious after a while. We did not attend any of the entertainment options but other passengers had good reviews for the nightly entertainment. All in all, we had a good cruise thanks to the port calls. Costa Luminosa has the potential to be a great cruise ship. Unfortunately, the quality of the food and overworked staff prevent the experience from rising to the next level. I would recommend the ship to those who are excited about visiting European ports and the timing works or the Luminosa price is significantly less than the competitors. Otherwise, it would be wise to consider other cruise ships. Read Less

I took my 18 year old granddaughter on the cruise for a graduation present. I usually go on the Princess Line (although I had been on two other Costa cruise many years ago) but this cruise fit our timing and most of the ports we wanted to visit. I cannot say enough about how bad the food and service (in the restaurants) was: * The buffet lines are very long (we stood in line for 30 minutes several times) and you have to stand in different lines for different items (same for beverages - they do not take your drink order). *In the sit down restaurant for dinner, the service was really bad. One night my granddaughter received her entrée when others received their salad. One man at our table received his entrée when others received their dessert. *In the sit down restaurant for breakfast they do offer a limited menu that you can order from and they also have a small buffet set up. It is impossible to get a waiter to take your breakfast order so we ended up going to the buffet in the restaurant (at least we were seated and didn't have to hunt for a seat like you have to do in the buffet restaurant). *Coffee and tea isn't served/offered after breakfast. You need to go to a bar area and pay after breakfast. * They charge for pizza (not available until 7 pm), ice cream and hamburgers. They do offer a hamburger at the grill by the pool but it isn't very good, and the grill is not always open (our at sea day the grill was closed). The grill is the only place to get French fries. * You have to pay for room service (other than coffee/tea, cereal, muffins). Plus you need to have a premium room in order to get room service. * The sit down restaurant is only open for lunch for 1 1/2 hours. If you go on an excursion it's not an option. * All cruise lines have specialty restaurants, but Costa also has a section on their dinner menu that have items that you need to pay for. * Other cruise lines have one side of the dinner menu that you can order these items at any time (on Princess, you can get shrimp cocktail at any dinner). The choices on Costa were a couple pasta dishes (and they were not good). Shrimp was never offered except for one night and the entrée was pasta with shrimp (there was ONE, tiny shrimp on the pasta). * The only time a steak was offered was on formal night - then we received a well done piece of meat wrapped in puff pastry. * If you're traveling with children or teens (or a picky eater) there is basically nothing for them to eat during the day (have to wait for the pizza and hamburger sections to open at 7 pm). We ate off the ship as often as we could. Read Less

We’re experienced cruisers, but this was our first time on Costa. We selected this cruise because it sailed from Venice (which we love) and because there were a couple of the ports that we hadn’t visited previously. The embarkation process went smoothly and we were delighted with our cabin. It was a mid-level balcony and had plenty of storage space and room to spread out. We loved every port and felt that we had adequate time in each one. The food was surprisingly good!! The breakfast buffet had lots of choices that were properly prepared. Dinners were terrific. Absolutely no complaints with the food. We were pleasantly surprised that smoking was very restricted and did not cause us any problems. I was a bit concerned about taking a Costa cruise since it’s considered “budget.” Fortunately, those fears proved to be unfounded and I would gladly book another Costa Cruise. One other thing...a couple of days after we completed this cruise we took a 12 day MSC Cruise out of Barcelona. What a contrast! The MSC cabin (same category) was tiny and the food...oh my goodness. It was just awful. Never again! Read Less

We really enjoyed our costa cruise out of Barcelona 2 years prior to this one but this was a big disappointment. It started with the company charging us $100.00 just to put our friends names on the tickets that we bought, the travel company put our names on both cabins but no information was even entered. Anyway, they charged for everything right down to ping pong balls to play a game. We bought the drink package, but it took forever to get a drink, bartenders played games with the guests, ignoring them while cleaning up the bar, I guess they were looking for more tips. The staff was friendly but there wasn't much motivation to work since they already had their tips paid. Food was good and our waiter was excellent in the evening for dinner but the breakfast and lunch was miserable! It took forever to be served and the choices were very limited. We have been on many cruises and we enjoy it a lot but never again on Costa. We aren't that picky or demanding but this was very disappointing from previous cruises. There wasn't much in the way of entertainment, no trivia, or sports events. The room was kept at 75 degrees, so at night it was too warm so we had to keep the door open. My husband keep asking for them to check on the air conditioning but they said that was the lowest it would go down to. We had a mini suite so it was a good size and we were able to board earlier then everyone else, thank goodness because the lines were SO long to board. They said 2 hours to get our luggage but it turned into 5. I had a tray of drinks spilt on me and nothing to change into for 4 hours, quite a sticky wet four hours to wait. It just seemed like a bus going around, dropping people off and picking them up at different stops, we had a good time but we won't go with Costa again. Read Less

This was our first cruise ever; we didn't knew what to expect, but it was all very good and it won't be the last cruise we make. More than enough space on the ship. You don't notice that there are more than 2.000 guests on board. Nice room (inside cabin 1248). Friendly personel, enough place on deck to find a nice/silent spot to sit in the sun. The food is good; for dinner you can choice for a luxury dinersetting on deck 2 or self-buffet on deck 9. When having dinner on deck 2 (restaurant Taurus), it takes sometimes a bit longer to finish dinner and therefore coming to late for the entertainment in the theater. Every evening we got the daily program for the next day in our cabin. We were with the two of us. You can see than Costa cruises are interesting for family's with children, because there were quit a lot of them. Not many older people. We didn't wnet with a shore excursions; we did it all bij ourselves. That's the nice thing with cruising, you are never very far away from the cities. Read Less

We choose for this cruise , because ; -The itineraries -The price of the cruise -All Inclusive (Diner and lots of beverages as wine, cognac,whiskey,beer, liquer,cocktails... -The total amount of days (just one week, not more) -The size of cabin and balcony -Entertainment We enjoyed the services of the crew, we liked the lay-out of the ship, - yes on this ship one can enjoy also more quiet areas. Deck four we loved quite well , if you like to walk quite a bit, this deck was well made for this This was not our first cruise and we enjoyed also other companies as; - Royal Crarribean (2x) - Norwegian Cruiseline - Celebrity (2x) - Holland America Line And yes ,they were all good ,so also Costa Luminosa was. And no; this ship was not too noisy One demand from us to Costa; Please make Venice or for exemple Triesta a port where you have more control on (communication with port authorities) Read Less

This is the first time I have been motivated to write a review, but we were so disappointed with Costa this time. We have cruised with them for several years, and have always been very happy. Everything started fine. Embarkation in Venice was more or less painless, the cabin was ready, and the food in the buffet dining room at lunch time absolutely fine. It was only when the cruise really got started we began to notice how things had gone down even from 6 months ago. In the main dining room for dinner, there were clearly staff shortages, only one waiting at table, previously had been two. Our waiter, as did many others, looked exhausted, but still managed to be delightful always with a smile and a cheerful attitude. The menu choices have been reduced for every course, and the 'everyday' menu, that is the one that doesn't change day to day, pretty restricted. No steak or meat dish available, mostly consisting of pasta. We expect pasta, there is always a pasta course, but for there to be no alternative for those who don't especially like pasta is not really satisfactory. The food was good, but having experienced what costa had to offer in previous years, didn't feel that it was as good. Worst of all, and we could hardly believe this, given that Costa is an italian cruise line, there was no pizza or ice cream available anywhere on the menu included in the cost of the cruise, not even in the buffet dining room. Reason - they sell it. Outrageous; we have complained very strongly on the feedback form they send out at the end of the cruise. Don't mind the paid for restaurants, don't use them, but accept that everyone has them these days. But pizza and ice cream??!! In the bars, again lack of staff very noticeable. We waited for about half an hour for a waiter, then gave up and went to the bar to collect our own drinks. Which is fine, except that all drinks carry a 15% service charge, so you kind of expect service. Some of the staff behind the bar were very offhand, appeared to be quite demoralised, and some didn't even give any eye contact, let alone engage in conversation. They weren't rude exactly, just did what they had to do, took the card and served the drink and that is all. Once we managed to get a waiter, the ones we had anything to do with were lovely, chatty and friendly, but appeared very rushed. Breakfast in the main dining room was pretty chaotic, they have a weird system of cold buffet, but with some hot items, as well as the served menu items. Getting those hot items from the buffet, to co-ordinate with a hot item from the menu so as to make up a breakfast dish was challenging to say the least. Main dining room should be a served menu, if you want buffet dining then you would go in the buffet restaurant. The reason we didn't go up there was that it was extremely difficult to get a seat at busy times, and again was pretty chaotic. At least in the main dining room you do get a seat, even though service could be slow, and on one occasion we had to get the Maitre'd involved as the table we were led to was not set, and no amount of asking got us any cutlery or crockery. The ship was almost full, there were clearly not nearly enough staff. Everything else was pretty much what we have expected from Costa. Entertainment is difficult we recognise that, with there being so many different languages to contend with. The cruise dancers and singers are good, and the acrobat dancers who put on an individual show were excellent. Otherwise the only alternative was 'the Voice of the Seas', talent show, and the crew show. The crew show was the most enjoyable of them all and the theatre was packed. Sadly packed with some very rude people who don't get that pushing past people and knocking their drinks over isn't acceptable, especially when the show has started. But this is the passengers, not Costa. They no longer serve drinks in the theatre, which is a good thing, but you can take them in. Apart from a cruise in an area where Costa don't go, this is the only line we have used in the past few years. Sadly, we will be trying someone else next time. Read Less

This trip was an anniversary gift to my elderly parents. The trip was quite a disappointment. It felt as operator was trying to save on everything (service, entertainment, staffing, etc). It was all not that bad if not they lost my parents suitcase with a lot of valuables in it, as of November 4th the baggage was not returned to them even tho we made countless attempts to contact the operator in regards to this. My parents are cruise enthusiasts and been on more then 20 different cruises and never they were so disappointed in their trip, not to mention it was not cheap at all. Complete lack of customer service makes it even worse. My mother had all her glasses (and believe me those were not cheap glasses) in that suitecase and she really struggles without them, operator showed NO INTEREST in returning missing baggage or providing other means of compensation, feels like they only concerned about collecting the money. Will not use again or recommend to a friend! Read Less